Nero

Nero is the main character of the fourth installment of the Devil May Cry franchise. Little about him is known, but apparently, he was raised in the city of Fortuna. Nero is a sardonic character and doesn't like to be messed around with. His weapons include a revolver named Blue Rose, and a sword named Red Queen. Nero is a member of the Kyoudan Kishi, or "Order of of the Sword", a religious order which protects the secrets and powers of demons from the world. In Fortuna, the people here believed that Sparda was actually a feudal lord in Fortuna, and thus worship him. He performs "special jobs" for the order, cleaning up "messy situations". Nero's questionable nature means that the Order prefers to send him out solo, and Nero actually prefers to act as a lone wolf. Kyrie is the childhood friend of Nero as well as a singer during the Order's ceremonies. He and Kyrie both fall in love some point prior to the beginning of the game and this love plays a major part during the events of Devil May Cry 4.

At the game's beginning, Nero manages to barely make it to one of Kyrie's perfomances on time after dealing with a group of demons. He leaves her a gift and then prepares to leave, having grown tired of listening to the Order's preaching. Just before he can though, Dante bursts in through the ceiling during a prayer and proceeds to kill Sanctus, the leader of the Order. Credo, head of the Order's knights, and brother of Kyrie, along with a battalion of knights confront Dante, but are completely outmatched. Nero manages to step in just in time, sporting his iconic two-legged kick into Dante's face, just before the Devil Hunter can approach Kyrie and Credo. The two fight, and again, Dante comes out on top, shrugging off everything Nero throws at him. He comments that they're the same, and points out to Nero that the knights Dante had slain were in fact demons. Confused, Nero watches as Dante flees the scene and so starts his quest to seek him out.

Appearance
Nero wears a long coat with a blue and red with a hood sewn into it. Notably it has the Order of the Sword's insignia sewn into the right shoulder. He wears a red zip-up vest underneath this coat. He has white hair, similar to Dante and Vergil that he wears down, however, it has also been confirmed that Nero is not a son of Sparda and that Nero's resemblance will not be featured in the storyline. However, he is referred to in Devil May Cry 4 as being a "Descendant of Sparda".

The Blood of Sparda
Sanctus mentions in-game that Nero has within him the blood of Sparda, and that Sparda's power has awoken in him. The details of this are not explained, though it is possible Nero is either the son of or a reincarnation of Vergil, or that his Devil Bringer arm has some connection to Vergil due to the connection it seems to have with the sword Yamato.

Gameplay
Nero has the ability to use Devil Bringer, his right arm resembling that of a devil's, a unique ability for him that allows him to snatch far away enemies and perform supernatural feats of strength. Unfortunately he does not gain new weapons apart from Yamato. Nero's taunts in a similar sarcastic fashion to Dante. He drags his left thumb across his neck in a throat-slitting motion, then sticks out his arm for a thumbs down, yelling "Scum! Ha-ha!". Other taunts involve him bowing mockingly and saying "Shall we dance?", him placing his hand to his ear and saying "What'd you say?", and him aiming his pistol at a demon and saying "Bang!"

OPS magazine recently revealed that Nero will have a Devil Trigger like ability which causes a spectral demon to appear behind him. Interestingly, OPS referred to the demon as Sparda.

In DMC4, Nero does in fact feature a large spectral demon floating behind him in his Devil Trigger form in addition to acquiring a blue aura and burning red eyes. Nero appears no different in this form apart from these changes, and the demon manifests wielding the Yamato when he attacks. Some moves allow Nero himself to wield Yamato. Interestingly enough, the demon looks very similar to Vergil's DMC3 devil trigger from the waist up as he was seen in his full, armored form, albeit with a more skeletal, sunken face. This would tie in given speculation of the Devil Bringer's ties with Vergil

Trivia

 * The character is voiced and motion captured by Johnny Yong Bosch